Wednesday Worktable - 5th March 2014 : My New Plan!

I haven't contributed to JuliaDunnit's WOYWW for ages.  It's been quite crazy here over the last few months and I really haven't joined in with much at all, on any blogs (even my own).   But I wanted to join in this time - because I have a Work Desk Story for you!

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Last Friday I went to the local auction house and left a Bid on an item.  The auction was on Saturday morning and I was on the phone early in the afternoon, to see if my bid had been successful.  It had indeed... my invoice would arrive by e-mail on Saturday afternoon and I could collect my item on Monday or Tuesday.

On Monday afternoon, Mister Lizziemade and I went to the auction house and brought home my new...

Plan Chest!!

Woo-hoo!  I have wanted a plan chest for ever!  Especially since I have been book-binding, as I have loads of huge sheets of paper and storage has been an issue. 

My Studio was originally supposed to be The Spare Bedroom as well - there was going to be a sofa-bed along one wall; so, there wasn't really any room for a huge chest of drawers. 

However, we now have an extra room downstairs, as last year we doubled the size of the old dining room, to make a large living room, where we have plenty of space to sit and relax, as well as room for the dining table and other furniture.  The original "sitting room" is now a "snug", separated from the rest of the house by a hallway - which makes it perfect to double as a guest room.  So I no longer need to worry about trying to accommodate people - only equipment and paper!! 

I have been looking out for a plan chest online, but with little success, as I didn't want to spend the £400 or more that was necessary to buy what I saw that was suitable.  Even on EBay, a decent second-hand plan chest is selling for £300+ and almost always, these items are "Collection Only" - ie. I would have to arrange collection and delivery myself, at extra cost - or else they are being sold by dealers who arrange delivery, but at a premium. 

I decided to try the local auction and phoned on Wednesday, to ask if they had any plan chests for the coming Saturday.  I was in luck - there were two... Hence the visit on Friday and my subsequent purchase! 

As you may notice from the photo above, the chest is now filled and labelled.  I have decent storage at last!  No more hauling huge, heavy paper-storage bags from a pile and dragging them around the floor, just so I can get at a single sheet that's stored right at the bottom of the heap. I can keep them in seperate drawers and lay the bag on the top of the chest to find what I need - Yay! 

I've been having a Tidy Up in the Studio, so this new Plan Chest is the next stage in my reorganisation and clear-out.  I hope that I will soon have an organised room, where I can really get on with some work, without having to shift piles of stuff from place to place, just to make room to work.  It's still Work in Progress (my crafting desk is still pretty untidy, but you should've seen it at the start of yesterday, before I attacked the massive pile of stuff!), but I am Getting There!

And What Was on my (lovely new) Workdesk today?

Lizzie's New Workdesk!



You can see that I got it all set up pretty quickly.  The table to the right is one of those folding "banquet" tables that they have in church halls and community centres.  It has been my Bookbinding Table for a year or so, propped up on wooden blocks, to raise it to standing height.  Now I have the Plan Chest, so I can work on the top of that, with the folding table as a place to set out my tools and equipment, lay out pieces of work that are waiting for my attention etc.  Just what I need! 

And this morning, on the plan-chest-workdesk was a pocket journal, in soft, spring-green leather.  I was about to stitch in the six sets of white pages, with some lovely pale mauve linen thread...

The chest is a great height to sit when stitching, as well as to stand at when preparing book covers, or cutting paper. I'm very happy with it!

This is the result of the morning's labours:

Green Leather Journal, with decorative longstitch binding in mauve linen thread. 

I'm a Happy Lizzie!